Little Boxes: A Dynamic Optimization Approach for Enhanced Cloud Infrastructures

The increasing demand for diverse, mobile applications with various degrees of Quality of Service requirements meets the increasing elasticity of on-demand resource provisioning in virtualized cloud computing infrastructures. This paper provides a dynamic optimization approach for enhanced cloud infrastructures, based on the concept of cloudlets, which are located at hotspot areas throughout a metropolitan area. In conjunction, we consider classical remote data centers that are rigid with respect to QoS but provide nearly abundant computation resources. Given fluctuating user demands, we optimize the cloudlet placement over a finite time horizon from a cloud infrastructure provider's perspective. By the means of a custom tailed heuristic approach, we are able to reduce the computational effort compared to the exact approach by at least three orders of magnitude, while maintaining a high solution quality with a moderate cost increase of 5.8% or less

On the Relevance of Security Risks for Cloud Adoption in the Financial Industry

For financial institutions as “heavy users” of Information Technology (IT), the promises of cloud computing – most notably, increased flexibility and reduced provisioning cost – are tempting. However, moving data and applications from a confined internal IT infrastructure to an external, shared cloud poses multiple new security issues. This paper provides an assessment of the relevance of selected issues, based on interviews with 12 representatives of financial institutions. Our results indicate that despite technical advancement and legal arrangements, certain security issues are likely to remain important inhibitors for the adoption of cloud computing by financial institutions

Cloud Computing in the Financial Industry – A Road Paved with Security Pitfalls?

In the financial industry, Information Technology (IT) is an essential production factor, but also a major expense post. Because cloud computing promises to deliver IT services more flexibly and cost-efficiently, it potentially constitutes a “perfect match” for the financial sector. However, given the high degree of regulation, concerns regarding security and compliance requirements arise. In this work, we provide a detailed theoretical analysis of potential security problems in the context of cloud computing. This analysis is complemented by the initial results of an ongoing case study concerning the practical relevance of these problems in the financial industry. The analysis confirms that security issues pose notable obstacles for the adoption of cloud computing in practice, but also points to appropriate countermeasures

Pricing in Infrastructure Clouds – An Analytical and Empirical Examination

With the increasing maturity of the cloud computing market, specifically in the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) domain, adequate pricing of services has become a crucial success factor for providers. In this work, we take a threefold approach to examine the current situation concerning pricing in the IaaS market. Based on an initial literature review, we find that pay-as-you-go pricing is perceived as the dominant scheme by the scientific community. Based on this notion, we discuss other pricing schemes with respect to their advantages, disadvantages, and challenges for a cloud provider. These results are complemented by an empirical study, in which we identify pay-as-you-go and subscription pricing as the dominant options that are practically applied in the IaaS market today

Kontextbasierte Eventerkennung in der Logistik mit drahtloser Sensornetztechnologie

Eine lückenlose Echtzeitüberwachung von Logistikprozessen erlaubt es Events frühzeitig zu erkennen und auf diese angemessen zu reagieren und eröffnet das Potential Haftungsfragen leichter zu klären und Versicherungsprämien zu senken. Mittels drahtloser Sensornetz-technologie wird eine entsprechende Echtzeiterkennung von und -benachrichtigung über Events in Logistikprozessen möglich. Diese muss aber sowohl kosten- und energieeffizient als auch kundenorientiert realisiert werden. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird hierzu das Konzept der „übertragungsrelevanten Events“ vorgestellt und zur konkreten Umsetzung ein Scoresheet-basiertes Verfahren entwickelt. Die Effizienz und Vorteilhaftigkeit dieses Verfahrens im Vergleich zu anderen Verfahren zur Eventerkennung und -benachrichtigung im Rahmen einer Echtzeitüberwachung von Logistikprozessen wird mittels Simulations-experimenten gezeigt